Disclaimer: Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny were created by Sunrise. I do not own Gundam Seed nor Gundam Seed Destiny.

Background Notes: This piece of fanfiction takes into account Final Plus, but ignores the events in the Gundam Seed Destiny Special Editions.

Special Thanx to my editor, Mumyou Nanashi!

Phase 01 - Settling

x-x-x

Under the bright morning sun, two uniformed figures emerged from a sports utility vehicle and walked calmly toward a recently remodeled home. Gravel crunched under their boots as they proceeded along the driveway. The man in front, adorned in the honored white ZAFT uniform, carried an electronic clipboard tucked under his arm. Accompanying him, a woman paced herself respectively behind her commander, dressed in the male version of the Red Coat attire.

Passing a sleek, black sports car parked on the driveway, the commander arrived at the doorstep and rang the doorbell. After a moment of silent waiting passed, the door opened to reveal an attractive woman with magenta hair.

"Yza – I mean – Commander Jule!" Lunamaria exclaimed, saluting stiffly. Although she met the brash young man a few times in past visits, she never encountered him in his formal military uniform.

"At ease, Lunamaria," Yzak replied nonchalantly. "Is everyone in?"

"Yes. Please, come in."

Allowing the commander entry through the doorway, Lunamaria observed Yzak's pause as he absorbed the changes in the house since his last visit. Over here, a wrecked wall was restored, supporting a shelf holding a picture of her sister and herself. Over there, a newly redone set of stairs allowed for a path to everyone's rooms. In a severe twist of irony, Shinn's family home suffered no harm from the first war three years ago when the EAF attempted to invade; however, a stray explosion from ZAFT's attack in Operation: Fury resulted in some collateral damage. On leave from ZAFT for an undefined amount of time, Lunamaria and Shinn came to Orb to find the house in disrepair and partial ruins.

Over the next few summer months, the pair worked on fixing the house. Additionally, despite Shinn's frequent protestations, Athrun and Meyrin joined in on the restoration effort. The day the two arrived to help was an amusing memory for Lunamaria. Shinn had been so engrossed in the surprisingly difficult task of installing a corner support that he did not immediately notice Lunamaria had stopped working to talk to her sister. Only after their animated voices reached his ears did he pause from his work to greet Meyrin. However, Shinn then had heard some noises of... destruction... from another room in the house. Racing over with the sisters following closely behind, the red-eyed former pilot reached a scene of horror and dread, as he watched Athrun take apart one of the recently replaced corner supports.

Lunamaria could not recall the exact words and phrases that were swiftly exchanged, though Shinn did include some creative expletives on his part. The conversation went something along the lines of the following:

"What are you doing?"

"You attached this incorrectly."

"No, I didn't!"

"I think you did."

"Look, I know what I'm doing; I've been installing corner supports for the past three - no, four – days!"

"Well, these arrow markings are going in the wrong direction, according to this manual."

Throw in some more yelling on Shinn's part, as well as some more patient explaining on Athrun's part, and one can obtain a fairly accurate image of the situation.

After some time, the argument came to a stasis as Shinn internally acknowledged that... perhaps... there was a slight chance that Athrun – maybe – had a possibly valid point. Especially in light of the user-friendly diagrams depicted in the manual. Despite this internal concession, Shinn refused to admit defeat, and thus shooed Athrun away.

In the following weeks, similar scenes occurred. Athrun would arrive unannounced to help out on the days he had off from Morgenroete, and Shinn would attempt to browbeat Athrun into leaving. Fortunately for Shinn, Athrun failed to discover any other examples of incorrect workmanship; thus in these verbal altercations Shinn did not come across as a completely incompetent, childish whiner. He still sounded like a childish whiner, just not an incompetent one. Athrun, having achieved a certain measure of wisdom over the years, decided against helping Shinn with the specific task of replacing the wrongly installed corner supports.

Eventually, Lunamaria took an initiative on her own and asked Shinn to allow Athrun and Meyrin to help with the remodeling. In addition to practical reasons, Lunamaria alluded to the awkward tension regarding the Cagalli-Athrun-Meyrin situation, and perhaps it would be best if Athrun had something to keep his mind off certain topics. As one who understood denial... err, that is... taking a break from particularly stressful thoughts, Shinn acceded to her request. Lunamaria omitted the little fact that, as a result of this arrangement, Athrun would be spending more of his time in Meyrin's presence. After all, sisters ought to help each other out, and, really, there were just some things men didn't need to know.

With her Coordinator mind, Lunamaria compressed the memory of those months into a two-second reminiscence. However, she quickly snapped back to the present when the dark haired woman accompanying Yzak crossed the entrance. The female guest nodded politely. "Long time no see, Luna."

"Same here, Shiho." Lunamaria nodded at the uniform. "Is this pleasure or business?"

Shiho Hahnenfuss smiled enigmatically and tilted her head, causing her ponytail to bounce slightly. "You'll see."

Curiosity piqued, Lunamaria followed the commander's path to the dining room, in which Yzak had just exchanged greetings with Athrun and Meyrin. The two were seated at their usual positions around the old oak table, viewing the news together on a laptop – most likely another anti-Orb demonstration held in PLANT. Shinn had invited Athrun and Meyrin to stay at his house during the remodeling period, and extended a more permanent invitation afterwards. Lunamaria suspected this gesture was something of a peace offering to the pair, especially to Athrun, regarding Shinn's actions during the Second Valentine War.

"I did not expect you to arrive until later this evening, Yzak," Athrun said. "Hello, Shiho-san."

"Hello, Athrun-san," Shiho replied. She took a standing position behind and to the left of Yzak. Lunamaria, seating herself at the table, watched Athrun take note of Shiho's stiff military posture despite the informal conversation taking place.

"Lacus-san wanted to arrive early," Yzak answered, pausing a moment to sit. "Shopping," he offered with mild grimace. Shiho unsuccessfully suppressed a smirk.

Meyrin smiled in amusement. "She must be busy. Lacus-san is not the type to wait until the last minute."

Athrun asked Yzak, "Why are you annoyed? It's not like she dragged you along."

"I wasn't finished recalibrating my present for tonight." Behind Yzak, Shiho lost her grin.

The three residents exchanged looks of equal parts surprise and curiosity. Athrun shrugged, apparently deciding to let the matter rest. Lunamaria, however, could not resist. "What did you get Murrue-san and Mwu-san for their wedding shower?" she ventured.

"I'm returning Duel to the Archangel."

Pause.

Behind Yzak, Shiho rolled her eyes and silently sighed. Lunamaria glanced at the other two again, seeing her disbelief mirrored. She wanted to make sure. "That's your gift?"

"Yes."

"You're returning GAT-X102 Duel as a gift?" Meyrin needed to be sure as well.

"Yes."

"The same Duel we stole from Heliopolis?" Evidently, Athrun also had to confirm.

"Yes!" Yzak growled. "You have a problem with that?"

"Err... no... no problem," Lunamaria slowly replied. She wondered what it would be like to steal candy from a baby and then return the candy as a birthday present. Not that Murrue and Mwu were babies, but still...

Athrun had given a vague explanation about the events surrounding the five mobile suits from Heliopolis. The story was prompted one evening when Meyrin posed the question of how he met Kira and the others on the Archangel. Shinn, Lunamaria, and Meyrin discovered a few surprises that evening, such as the friendship between Athrun and the Freedom pilot extended much before the First Valentine War, and that Kira actually piloted the Strike against the Creuset squad. Athrun, Lunamaria suspected, left out a lot of critical information, and thus the three had a large number of questions they wanted to ask.

Why would Kira, a Coordinator, be part of the Earth Alliance?

Was the EA's mobile suit training that good, to create such a pilot that could succeed so well in his first battle?

And didn't Athrun get the Nebula award for taking down Strike? Did he actually try to kill his friend?

This, however, hit a little too close to home for Shinn, and the Hawke sisters sensed that asking Athrun these questions would only cause more grief. Lunamaria had later asked Meyrin's friend Miriallia for further juicy gossip – uh, that is – clarifications – about the history of the two pilots, but the brunette had suddenly lost much of her cheerfulness that afternoon and quietly declined to answer.

Regardless, after both wars, the Duel was still in the hands of ZAFT. Until this evening, apparently. Lunamaria glanced toward Shiho with a look that asked for confirmation about the gift and simultaneously carried a question regarding Yzak's sanity. Shiho lowered her face into her hand and nodded resignedly, answering affirmatively to both questions. Yzak caught this glance and frowned. But before he could explode in defense of his gift, another voice penetrated the conversation.

"Did someone ring the doorbell?" Shinn asked, walking into the dining room. "Oh, hi Yzak. Shiho."

Lunamaria watched Shinn register their visitors' uniform, Shiho's posture, and the relaxed demeanors of his house mates. Seeing his confusion on the formality of this visit, Lunamaria suggested, "Have a seat, Shinn."

"Uh... okay." Shinn took the remaining chair at the table. "What's going on?"

"I have news." Yzak announced, standing up. "Congratulations, Athrun Zala, Meyrin Hawke. You two are both cleared of all charges regarding your actions in the Second Valentine War. The top brass recognizes that you, Hawke, were simply obeying the orders of a superior officer. As for you, Zala, your actions have been deemed to be in line with your assignment from Chairman Dullindal, which consisted of you preventing and stopping ZAFT from doing anything stupid. Granted, you failed, but that doesn't make you a traitor. Just incompetent. Welcome back to ZAFT."

The young commander glanced at his electronic clipboard and said, "Unofficially, I am passing on a request from the Council that you, Zala, do not defect yet again in the foreseeable future. And you, Hawke, have been asked to provide details as to how you hacked Gibraltar's security system. This is also unofficial because otherwise the security idiots in Gibraltar would have to officially admit that they still cannot figure out what you did. Even after a half year of investigation." Everyone smiled at this last statement.

Yzak then turned to Shinn and Lunamaria. "Shinn Asuka, Lunamaria Hawke. Your leave is over. You two, as well as Meyrin Hawke, are now assigned to the Voltaire under me. We have mobile suits ready for you two pilots. Meyrin, you are now my new CIC. All three of you, report in at 0800 tomorrow."

Before the four truly had a chance to absorb all of this, Yzak continued, "Zala, Asuka. Due to the dissolution of the FAITH program, you two no longer have that status. Asuka has been given the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Zala has been given the rank of Commander, and thus will not be serving under me, you lucky bastard. You are also expected to board the Voltaire at 0800 tomorrow so that I can be your goddamn chauffeur and transport you to PLANT. Further orders await you there. Your mobile suit is aboard my ship as well."

Directing his attention to Meyrin, he said in a less formal tone, "Meyrin Hawke, despite the dismissed charges, you will still face the political nightmare of your comrades talking behind your back and your superiors doubting your abilities and loyalties. That's why I had you assigned to my ship, since my crew is a bit more understanding about these issues. As for you, Zala, I couldn't care less about what others think of you."

Lunamaria's mind raced through the implications. While they had expected Athrun and Meyrin to eventually be cleared of all charges, no one expected the two to be reassigned back into ZAFT. Athrun was a colonel in Orb's military; how was that going to be handled? And frankly, the four of them had grown accustomed to a non-military lifestyle. Returning to ZAFT, for Shinn and herself seemed like a distant reality.

Still, Meyrin, Shinn and herself will all be on the same ship, so at least they had each other. All in all, it could be worse.

"Any questions?" Yzak asked.

"What are the suits?" Shinn inquired.

Boys and their toys, Lunamaria thought to herself amusingly. Shinn, and Athrun to an extent, had this contradictory aspect to them: while they well and truly desired peace, there was no denying that both were pilots who loved battling in mobile suits. If pressed, Lunamaria would have to admit that she herself would fall in this category. In fact, she only knew of one elite pilot who disliked fighting.

"Destiny has been repaired, so you, Asuka, will receive that back. Lunamaria, since ZAFT is still delaying the repairs on the Minerva, we have Impulse with only its Force Silhouette attached. And you, Zala, will be piloting the Legend, which was just repaired. It was originally yours anyways. That, and everyone who has practiced with the DRAGOON system hates it, so we're saddling you with it."

Shiho coughed slightly. Yzak sighed and added, "Okay, everyone but Shiho hates the system, but that's because she did some of the research for the project. And her ego won't let her admit that it really does suck." Behind her commander, Shiho stuck her tongue out at Yzak.

Shinn eyebrows furrowed. "Lieutenant Commander? Isn't that just the rank of an officer that ZAFT doesn't want to have commanding a squadron? I got demoted from FAITH to that?" Lunamaria elbowed him in the ribs. "Uh, pardon me. Is that what happened, Sir?"

Yzak's furrowed in anger as he snapped, "What the hell-"

"I never said I will return to ZAFT," Athrun interrupted. All eyes turned toward him, but he remained unperturbed by the attention. Out of the corner of her eye, Lunamaria noticed that Meyrin had slightly tensed at Athrun's statement.

Yzak frowned. "Look, you idiot. The only reason why they dropped the charges is because we argued that your actions were in line with your orders. That means you never left ZAFT. So unless you want to admit to being a traitor, you're coming back!"

Lunamaria waited for a response from Athrun; however, he kept silent. His eyes unfocused, seeming to gaze off into the distance.

Yzak's expression softened as he looked away. "What's keeping you in Orb, Athrun?"

x-x-x

"Cagalli-sama."

The young Representative of Orb, having just exited the Emirs' meeting room for a lunch recess, glanced at the owner of the voice. She continued on her path in the yellow-painted hallway while giving her reply. "Yes, Elizabeth?"

Her secretary caught up with her, eyeing an electronic clipboard in the process. "Several things. The latest reports on the rebuilding of the city are available."

"Summarize and distribute them to myself and the Emirs," Cagalli responded.

"The shelters for war victims are requesting more relief."

"Contact Treasury to allocate more funds to them."

"Another anti-PLANT protest was held in Winnoga."

"Was there any violence?"

"No, it was a peaceful demonstration.

"Good. Set up a video meeting with the mayor and myself for tomorrow to discuss what happened."

"The Earth Alliance is requesting..."

The conversation continued in that vein, with Cagalli making choices that affected the fate of her nation. Unlike the aftermath of the First Valentine War, the blond princess presently commanded the respect of the other Orb Representatives. It had taken two years of struggle against manipulative Emirs and a global war for her to acquire this level of confidence and power. Some might even consider the Second Valentine War as a long and arduous coming-of-age ceremony for Cagalli. Additionally, though few voiced the thought aloud, her status also stemmed from the fact that many of the conspirators working with the Saran House had died together while hiding in the same ill-fated shelter during ZAFT's Operation: Fury.

Regardless of cause, Cagalli now stood at the forefront of global politics. Genuinely operating in the best interests of Orb, she successfully handled matters to better the people of her country.

The things one desires to do, and the things one is able to do.

"Morgenroete is asking when Admiral Yamato will be returning. They said, and I quote, 'The changes and updates Kira-sama sent to Project SA and the Project Sim work as he specified. However, despite three weeks of analysis, we still do not understand how and why they work.' End quote."

Cagalli tried and failed to hide her amusement. Many of the Morgenroete scientists had long swallowed their pride and freely admitted that Kira did their jobs better than they could. "I'll tell Erica-san tonight."

"You asked me to remind you about Commander Jule and his gift," Elizabeth informed.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot. Give my approval and let Kisaka handle it. I've already talked to him about this matter."

"The Ambassador of Scandinavia will be arriving later than expected for tonight's ball."

"How late?"

"A half hour after the wedding shower begins."

Cagalli sighed. However much she wanted to avoid the ball, political circumstances obligated her to make an appearance. She had already resigned herself to two hours of looking prim and proper before leaving for the wedding shower, but this had assumed the aforementioned Ambassador would attend on time. Scandinavia was an important ally during the Second Valentine War, and, political connections aside, she honestly did admire the country's willingness to stay true to their beliefs.

"Alright. I'll wait until after meeting with the Ambassador before leaving. Inform Murrue-san that I will be later than expected and have a set of clothes ready for Lacus and myself to change into by then."

"Mana-san has already taken care of that matter."

The blond princess stopped at those words, turning to her secretary. "Define 'taken care of'," Cagalli demanded. She noticed Elizabeth failed to suppress a grin.

"The dress is so beautiful! Lacus-sama saw it this morning and bought it for you. She showed it to Mana-san and, well, you can guess what happened."

"You were there?"

"Yes."

"And you of course informed Lacus and Mana that, having been in a formal ball gown for two hours, I have absolutely no desire to jump into yet another dress. Right?" Cagalli snapped sharply. Several guards walking down the hallway suddenly decided the adjacent corridors needed investigation.

"It is my belief that Lacus-sama and Mana-san are fully aware of your tastes in fashion, and that I would not be able to add anything substantial to further their knowledge on this matter," Elizabeth replied smoothly.

She could only glare at Elizabeth. "You rehearsed that, didn't you?"

"Whatever do you mean by that, Cagalli-sama?" Elizabeth's sunny smile was flawlessly devoid of guilt. Cagalli knew of no other person who could play the innocent act so well.

The blond princess sighed in resignation. Mana has another ally. Great.

x-x-x

The two were utterly focused on their game, almost oblivious to the outside world. The Hawk of Endymion and the Desert Tiger concentrated on their duel, straining to defeat the other. The battleground: a game of attack, defense, and out-thinking the opponent. Each one considered possible strategies, what losses that can be made for a better lead, or what probes to test the opponent. The two players have enjoyed this pastime in the recent weeks, and each match left an impression on their respective memories. They both decided to have at least one game daily, often more.

Currently Mwu La Flaga sat still, waiting for Andrew Waltfeld's next move. Sweat trickled down his temple, as he considered the possibilities that can occur on this battlefield.

"Aren't you two too old for video games?" Murrue interrupted over the speaker.

"Whuh?" Mwu responded unintelligibly. Andrew took the opportunity to launch a series of beam attacks at Mwu's mobile suit in the simulator.

"NOO!" Mwu shouted. The controllers strained as he sharply dodged left and up, but too many of Andrew's shots landed, destroying his mobile suit. The simulation ended, with the statistics of the match displayed on the screen. Murrue heard Andrew's chuckling through her com-piece.

Murrue, lunch coffee in hand, watched both men exit the simulation cockpits, emerging from their technological cocoons into the hangar of the Archangel. Meanwhile, various members of the crew were setting up tables and decorations. Though a bit odd, the couple felt the ship would be the most appropriate place to have their wedding shower. Mwu even once joked of having their wedding there as well, with Kira as the officiant. After a few seconds of giggling at the notion of Kira presiding over the ceremony, the couple had suddenly become thoughtful of the prospect.

At the moment, though, Mwu was anything but thoughtful; instead, he wore an expression of sheer devastation and sorrow. Murrue could only shake her head. How appropriately dramatic. "Shouldn't you be helping with the preparations, Mwu?"

Mwu looked at his fiancée with a face of hurt, as if he was wrongly accused of the crime of sloth. "But Murrue, Athrun and Sai said we should make sure the software update from Kira is working properly."

The Archangel captain deadpanned an expression of utter disbelief. Serious but carefree, her fiancé's actions seemed to cover the entire spectrum. She sometimes wondered if she would ever be able to handle him when he was on the carefree end. Still, she fondly recalled when he planned the perfect date, the end of which he proposed to her. It was the happiest day of her life, and her future seemed to only improve from there.

Patting the simulator, Mwu continued on despite her skepticism. "Seriously, Murrue. You know everyone that's coming tonight. This simulator will be the primary piece of entertainment."

"No it won't!" another voice chimed. Murrue and the two men turned to see Miriallia carrying a box of oh Kami that can't be what I think it is! Unfortunately, Miriallia confirmed her fears. "The main entertainment will be the Karaoke Contest!"

The three older war veterans paused to absorb this information.

"Wait, we never said we would have-" Mwu began.

"What, are you afraid of a little singing in public?" the young woman cut in.

"Well," Mwu slowly replied, scratching the back of his neck. "The Pink Princess will be here, so there won't be much of a contest, right?" Murrue's hope soared at Mwu's convincing logic. Maybe she can get out of this.

"Oh, you're scared of a teenage girl? I thought you were the man who can make the impossible possible." Miriallia challenged.

Mwu opened and closed his mouth silently several times, vainly trying to find an appropriate response. Murrue watched him turn to her for help, but she still had not recovered from the paralysis effect generated by the Box of Dreadful Objects. Mwu then looked for assistance from Andrew.

"Sorry, but my mother made sure I had music in my genes. It would be disrespectful if I didn't participate, right?" His wide grin lent much doubt to the sincerity of his apology.

"Well there you go!" Miriallia turned away, taking with her the Box of Horror. Murrue caught a fleeting glimpse of a victory smile. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion; her young friend must have mapped this entire encounter out. Miriallia had an assertive nature at times, but the aggressiveness of this particular conversation struck the Archangel captain as odd. In fact, Murrue contemplated further, Andrew might have been part of the plan as well.

"How the... Isn't this our wedding shower?" Mwu asked no one in particular.

Setting aside Mwu's reaction for the moment, Murrue turned to confront the suspected co-conspirator, who seemed to be sniffing the air. But before she spoke a word, the Desert Tiger frowned and asked, "Is that instant coffee?"

"Err-no-no-it's-not!" Murrue quickly gulped down the contents of her cup. Hot! Really, really hot! After nearly choking on the beverage, she tried to school her expression into something bland, hiding her guilt for choosing instant coffee over Andrew's special blends.

The two men gave her incredulous looks, as if she just... lied about what coffee she was drinking. With a blush growing on her cheeks, Murrue quickly turned around. She marched stiffly away, announcing over her shoulder, "Continue testing that software update."

The Hawk and Tiger smiled.

x-x-x

In the hangar bay of another ship, crew members scrambled to prepare for the night's mission. Inside a mobile suit cockpit, one young man typed furiously at a keyboard.

"CPC setup complete. Neural linkage ion density, normal. Parameters of meta-motor section, updated. Nuclear reactor, critical. Power flow normal. Systems, all green..."

x-x-x

Athrun and I will be separated.

This thought prevailed in Meyrin's mind as she adorned her ears with jewelry, preparing for the evening's party. The redhead would never have claimed to be a complex person, but she was definitely in complex circumstances. Love triangles always had some measure of awkwardness, but this one involved the leader of a country and an elite mobile suit pilot of questionable loyalties. Their reinstatement into ZAFT added another large variable into this relationship knot. Only a full scale war between ZAFT and Orb could make life worse for her, and everyone certainly had enough of that.

Some time after the Battle of the Messiah, Meyrin quietly put in a request to retire from her position as CIC aboard the Eternal, ending her short career with Terminal. Lacus had graciously approved it, and then Cagalli helped her secure a programming position at Morgenroete on Athrun's and Kira's Project Sim. In fact, the Orb Representative even found several prospective apartments for her; half of which were located near Lunamaria and Shinn, and the other half were close to Athrun's home! Meyrin almost wished for Cagalli to act like a real rival and vie for Athrun's attention. Not that she had the confidence to think she could win, but at least this guilt gnawing on her mind would go away.

The one time Meyrin asked her sister for advice regarding this whole situation ended in Luna's decision to go slap Athrun around until he finally got a clue. It took pleading, physical resistance, and the threat of revealing the contents on page 119 of Luna's diary to stop the older sister from embarking such a rash crusade. The younger sister really had no one else to turn to for advice. Shinn was... not an expert on relationships. Lacus spent what little free time she had with Kira, and, to be honest, Meyrin did not want to complicate the love triangle further by dragging a former fiancée into the picture. That left Miriallia, but she and Meyrin's other friends from the Archangel (wisely) chose to remain uninvolved. Most likely, Meyrin suspected, they all wanted Cagalli to reunite with Athrun.

The redhead sighed as she smoothed the wrinkles out of her purple skirt. She had been avoiding having this discussion with the obvious person: Athrun Zala himself. And now we're going to see Cagalli later. Oh, how she wanted this evening to be over soon. But then, tomorrow, the four of them needed to board the Voltaire, which would eventually lead to Athrun leaving for whatever it is ZAFT wants him to do while the rest were stuck on Yzak's ship for Kami knows how long only to escort Lacus back and forth PLANT and Orb even though she already had Kira and Freedom although he was gone for the moment but still wait maybe Athrun can also join in on the escort-

Meyrin shook her head and took slow, deep breaths to calm herself. She recognized what her brain was trying to do: block out the possibility of Athrun staying in Orb and, of equal importance, the reason why.

"Are you alright, Meyrin?" her sister asked from the adjacent bathroom. Luna must have heard the deep breathing.

"I'm alright, Sis. Just... thinking about the transfer."

Luna walked into the room the two sisters shared, reaching for her high heels. Shiho, already dressed in an elegant pant suit for the evening's party, sat with her legs crossed on Meyrin's bed. "How pleasant is it to work under Commander Jule, Shiho? Does he really get angry all the time?" Luna asked.

Shiho smiled at the question. "That rumor is not entirely false, but there are really only two reasons why Commander Jule loses his temper. The first is that he has no patience with incompetence. That's understandable."

Meyrin and her sister nodded.

"The second is when he feels incompetent. He is, after all, one of the best of the best," Shiho continued. Meyrin understood, as Yzak Jule held the record as the youngest commander in ZAFT, and was a member of the infamous Creuset squad. "But back in his Academy days, he kept losing to Athrun Zala in training exercises, and during the First War... let's just say that his first meeting with Admiral Yamato was very interesting."

The younger sister furrowed her eyebrows for a moment. "Umm... does that mean the Commander gets angry when we are incompetent, and also when we are too competent?"

Shiho paused for a moment, her face expressing surprise and thought. "That's an interesting way of phrasing it. That statement holds some accuracy."

"Wait, back up," Luna interjected. "What happened when he met Kira-san?"

Meyrin looked at her sister. "I didn't tell you this story, Sis?" As she was aboard the Eternal at the time, the incident traveled along the gossip chain and eventually reached the bridge crew.

"No, you didn't. What happened? Commander Jule knew that Kira-san was the pilot of Strike, right?" Luna asked.

Shiho smiled amusedly. "Yes, he did. But you know how, in ZAFT, we pilots let the mechanics handle most of the repairs and mobile suit maintenance?"

x-x-x

Walking into the hangar of the Eternal, Shiho Hahnenfuss and two other teammates followed their commander as he strode purposely forward. Moving toward the Strike Freedom, they spotted a young brown-haired man about their age. A grease stain marred the back of the orange Orb technician outfit he wore. From the angle of their approach, Shiho had a good view of the man's profile. Typing away furiously at two different keyboards, he was reprogramming the Strike Freedom targeting system with his left hand and rewriting certain modules of the DRAGOON system with his right.

"Excuse me, where is the Admiral?" Yzak asked in a clear voice.

The technician shrugged, not speaking.

Commander Jule, clearly annoyed at the lack of a respectful response, moved to face the maintenance worker. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Hey kid!" a baritone voice boomed into the hangar, coming from the shoulder of Strike Freedom. "Did you replace the ball bearings in section 42-G of the left arm joint?"

"Yeah!" the young worker shouted back, keeping his eyes on the monitors. "The material in those bearings does not hold under combat stress!"

"What? That's the same grade that ZAFT uses for the mobile suits of their Redcoats!" the deep voice asserted.

"ZAFT Redcoats don't push their suits to their limit!" the technician responded.

Shiho watched her commander's right eye twitch and also noticed the frowns on her teammate's faces. They wore green, but this mechanic insulted the pride of ZAFT. "Who the hell do you think you are, mocking ZAFT like that?" Yzak yelled, slamming his hands on the computer cart.

The technician finally looked up. "Umm..." he began carefully. "Can I help you with something?" Of course, he was still typing at the computer terminals.

To say Commander Jule was livid was an understatement. "Name and rank, soldier!" Yzak demanded.

The typing stopped, and the worker frowned. "I've done nothing to deserve being shouted at."

"What?"

At this point, another voice entered the conversation. "Yzak!" Dearka hollered as he ran up to them. "Yo, Kira."

"Dearka." The technician known as Kira nodded. Wait, Kira?, Shiho thought.

"What are you mad about now, Yzak?" Dearka asked, confused at Yzak's furious countenance.

Before Yzak had a chance to say anything, Shiho snapped a smart salute. "Admiral Yamato, sir!" Everyone looked at her in surprise, confused for a fleeting moment.

The admiral raised his right hand to his head in an awkward ZAFT salute. "Uh, at ease. Please."

Shiho brought her hand down just as her teammates reluctantly saluted the admiral; apparently, they were still sore at his comment about ZAFT soldiers. Yzak, having finally made the obvious connection, had his eyes closed and his fists were slightly shaking. After a few breaths, he opened his eyes, and, through clenched teeth, he ground out, "Greetings, Admiral Yamato. Commander Jule, here to escort Lacus Clyne to PLANT." Shiho wisely contained her amusement over her commander.

"Hello, Commander. Thank you for the escort," Admiral Yamato replied. He then smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I sometimes forget that I'm an admiral."

"Kira," Dearka broke in, hesitantly. "This is Yzak Jule, former pilot of GAT-X102 Duel." Turning to the Jule squad, he continued, "Everyone, this is Admiral Kira Yamato, former pilot of GAT-X105 Strike and current pilot of ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom."

Shiho and her teammates looked at the admiral in surprise and some measure of awe. The admiral pilots Freedom?, they all thought. This man was the terror of ZAFT! What's he doing in a grease monkey's uniform? He should be on the bridge! He's kind of cute!

x-x-x

"WHAT?" Meyrin and Lunamaria shouted. Rather loudly, at that.

"Uh..." Shiho, with her hands covering her mouth from the unintentional statement, glanced at the two shocked sisters. "AnywaysI'llTellTheRestLaterLet'sGoNow," she spluttered before standing up to leave.

"Oh, no you're not. Repeat what you just said!" Lunamaria demanded with an evil grin. The two sisters latched onto Shiho with their infamous Hawke Talon Grip, one of the world's most effective forms of persuasion. Perfected over the years since their childhood, Lunamaria and Meyrin were able to use a form of cute pleading, oh-so-innocent pouty expressions, and essentially increase their charm factor by several orders of magnitude to a devastating effect. Their parents and Shinn could never withstand such a coordinated attack, and one time even Rey succumbed to their efforts.

In an effort to save her dignity, Shiho resisted and tried to push the sisters away. Meyrin, already in her heels, lost her balance and fell over onto her bed. She pulled Shiho down as well, who was gripped by Lunamaria, which resulted in the older sister falling on top of both.

The door burst open with Shinn in the lead, Athrun right behind him, and Yzak following.

"What happened Lun-"

"I heard a screa-"

"If it's a stupid cockroach I'm goin-"

And all three men stared at the scene in front of them. The three women lay in a delightfully entangled mess of luscious legs, flaring skirts, hands in inappropriate places, shirts hiked up hi-

"GET OUT!"

Athrun and Yzak, with flaming red faces, turned around quickly and all but ran out of the room. Shinn, also flushed with embarrassment, pivoted to leave. However, right as he reached the doorway, Shinn stole another glance at the-

"GET OUT SHINN!"

Two pairs of arms appeared through the doorway and yanked Shinn out.

x-x-x

This is even more enjoyable than I expected, Lacus thought to herself. After finishing a delicious mint dessert, the guests of the ball took to the dance floor. Unlike most formal balls she attended in the past, Lacus discovered this one to have a particularly festive mood. Despite the large list of high-profile invitees, she found only a small amount of politics flowing in the conversations. It seemed most of the persons here simply desired to have a good time.

After her last minute shopping trip that morning, Lacus had prepared for the evening gala at Cagalli's mansion. There, she learned from Mana the origins of this peculiar event: it started as an outdoor barbecue. The great-grandfather of the Bae family's current head celebrated his wedding anniversary by inviting relatives and close friends to a cookout. He held such an event each year, and his progeny continued the tradition until this day. All things evolved in time, and what was originally a not-so-small picnic grew larger. The party changed hosts within the family across generations, but the spirit of the event never altered. All attendees silently understood that the day, whatever its nature, was an aristocratic holiday to relax and enjoy.

This year, Arisu Bae, the young heiress of the Bae household, decided the theme to be an old-fashioned ball. And, much to Lacus's delight, she received an invitation for herself and an escort. With Kira away on his sabbatical, the songstress arrived singly; the relaxed atmosphere removed any discomfort in attending alone. Furthermore, this allowed Lacus to spend time with Cagalli, who also came sans escort.

However, apparently such company was not welcome.

"Do you still refuse to converse with me, Cagalli?" Lacus inquired with a sweet smile.

Crossing her arms over her chest and wrinkling her ivory gown in the process, Cagalli turned her head away with an indignant huff.

"Do you not think that one should look at the situation at all angles before rendering judgment?" Lacus elegantly posed forth.

The blond princess lifted her drink and took a sip, ignoring the one-sided conversation.

"You always look amazing in green."

More silence.

"And the orange accents on the dress bring out your eyes."

She shut her eyelids tightly.

"Why, it also matches Orange-chan as well!" Lacus exclaimed bubbly.

"Then why don't you wear it!" Cagalli snapped.

"Well, well, it seems Representative Atha is talking to me now," Lacus spoke to Pink-chan, which rolled slightly in her hands.

"Hurray, Hurray!" the robot responded.

The young blond covered her face with her palm in frustration. "I'm going to buy you a gun, Lacus, and force you to learn how to use it." Cagalli then smiled wickedly. "Or maybe a bazooka. I'll make sure it works well with Pink-chan. And Orange-chan. And all of your other Haros which happen to be roughly the same size as a rocket-propelled grenade."

Lacus clutched Pink-chan protectively away from the diabolical princess. "You wouldn't!" she gasped in mock outrage.

"It's like paintball, but with Haros."

The songstress was rendered speechless at the thought.

"Actually, the Haros would make excellent targets for marksmanship training. Small, mobile, intelligent, and everyone would get the satisfaction of shooting them..."

"Cagalli!" Lacus exclaimed in somewhat more authentic outrage.

"Just imagine, in Kira's simulator, a whole fleet of giant, mobile suit-sized Haros flying at you with glowing red eyes shouting, 'I cannot accept this! I cannot accept this!' It would be terrifying!" The two princesses held each other's gaze for a moment before bursting into a fit of giggles.

Switching topics, Cagalli asked, "Why aren't you on the dance floor, Lacus? You were excited about this ball."

Gazing at the waltzing guests longingly, Lacus softly replied, "He's not here."

The Orb Representative remained silent for a moment, sipping her drink. Meanwhile, the musicians finished the waltz selection and began a tango piece. "It's been four months since he left, hasn't it?"

The pink princess made an affirmative sound. Four long months. For reasons known only to him, Kira had suddenly decided one evening to "leave and bring closure to certain matters." They had been standing on a cliff together overlooking the ocean when he made the announcement. She had observed a growing listlessness in his demeanor in the weeks previous, but nothing prepared her for this statement. Sensing his need to keep the nature of the matters private, Lacus had thus chosen not to pursue that particular path of conversation. Instead, she merely made a simple declaration. "I will join you."

"No." Kira turned to her. His eyes. So gentle. "The world needs Lacus Clyne, right now."

"Am I to give up my freedom then, and become a servant to the world?" she challenged, in a tone colder than she had intended.

He smiled at her attempt to persuade him. "It is with your freedom that you choose to serve the world, Lacus."

She shook her head in frustration at his deft counter, and looked at him with pleading eyes. "Kira..." Lacus whispered. Holding a position on the PLANT Supreme Council and serving as liaison to Orb had consumed much of her life; in the two months following the Second Valentine War, she shared sparingly little time with the Freedom pilot.

Pulling her into a hug, he spoke into her ear, "It's alright, Lacus. I'll return, when I-"

"That stupid idiot." Cagalli's voice cut into Lacus's reminiscence. "I can't believe he just ups and goes on a vacation without telling me. Everyone in Morgenroete went into a panic when I told them he left."

Lacus, despite her brief nostalgic change in mood, smiled slightly at the other woman's statement. Unlike the months following of the first conflict, Kira became active in numerous projects after the Second Valentine War. In addition to escorting her through space, he and Athrun started Project SA and Project Sim with Morgenroete. Kira also worked with the Orb military training program to help improve the mobile suit piloting curriculum.

Cagalli continued. "And, of course, Kira never remembers that he's an Admiral now, instead of a civilian. He's the only officer in the military that doesn't do paperwork. I'm still not sure how he manages to get away with that."

"Does it really matter how he thinks of himself?" Lacus questioned.

Cagalli opened her mouth to answer, but then stopped herself, most likely realizing she was complaining in a rather undignified manner. A look of mild frustration crossed her features. Sensing something amiss, Lacus looked at her friend in concern. "Cagalli... what is it about Kira that is really bothering you?"

The blond princess fidgeted for a moment, staring at her empty cup. Eventually, she sighed in resignation. "In the first war," Cagalli spoke softly. "When we were hiding in the Mendel Colony... he... brought back a photo." The songstress nodded in understanding, as she was one of the few aware of their sibling relationship. Cagalli looked directly into the Lacus's eyes. "Did he tell you anything?"

The pink princess shook her head.

"I didn't think so. I asked him about it a few weeks before he left, and he wouldn't say anything."

Lacus felt the puzzle pieces fall into place. "So that's why."

Cagalli glanced up at Lacus. "What?"

"I believe he intends to confront the ghosts of his past." Silence hung between the two as each woman considered that statement. Perhaps Kira had left in search for the answer Cagalli desired.

"I looked into it, you know. About the Mendel colony." Lacus turned to the other in surprise. "They did some suspicious genetic activities there, but I could not find any specifics."

Lacus nodded, waiting for Cagalli to continue. The blond princess lifted her gaze. "I wonder if I'm a Coordinator."

"Would anything change if you had an answer to that?"

Cagalli glanced at the pink princess.

"Even if you are a Coordinator, you would still be Cagalli Yula Atha, would you not?"

"I would still be Cagalli, but not an Atha," the Orb Representative whispered.

Lacus began to speak again, but saw the other's shushing gesture. Following Cagalli's eyes, she noticed the approach of a beautiful young woman about their age.

"Good evening, Representative Atha," the newcomer greeted as she fixed a strand of dark purple hair in place.

"How do you do, Representative Bae?" Cagalli responded. Motioning to Lacus, the blond princess introduced, "Lacus, this is Representative Arisu Bae, newly appointed member of the Emir Council. Bae-san, this is Councilwoman Lacus Clyne, member of the PLANT Supreme Council and intermediary to Orb."

Turning to Lacus, Arisu smiled and spoke in a musical voice, "It is an honor meeting you, Councilwoman Clyne. You probably hear this often, but I must confess to being a fan of your music."

"I am flattered, Representative Bae. You have done a splendid job with this party," Lacus complimented. "I especially love the theme."

"Why thank you," Arisu responded. Lowering her voice, she smiled and whispered conspiratorially, "Actually, the ball idea was rather selfish of me; it gives me one last chance to play dress-up before I enter the world of politics." Lacus giggled with Arisu in true female bonding fashion, and then each further exchanged compliments on the other's dress. Cagalli sighed into her hand for the eighth time that evening, muttering something about women and frilly lace.

"In any case," Arisu said, "I wanted to inform you, Representative Atha, that the Scandinavian Ambassador will be arriving shortly."

"Oh, thank you."

"No problem. If you two don't mind, I must see to the other guests."

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Representative Bae," Lacus curtsied.

"Please, call me Arisu," the hostess called out as she walked away. The two young princesses stood in silence for a few moments, thinking over the encounter with the hostess.

"Be careful of her, Lacus."

The songstress looked over to the other with an expression asking the obvious question.

"She acts ditzy and naive, but Arisu is actually very sharp. Hmm... that reminds me of someone else I know," Cagalli mused, looking at Lacus pointedly.

In the most oblivious fashion, Lacus responded, "Now, now, Cagalli. You shouldn't talk about your secretary like that."

"I think I need to retract an earlier opinion I made today..."

x-x-x

"So this is the legged ship?" Shiho asked no one in particular. Leaning on the front railing of a boat with her companions, she watched the looming, ominous form of the Archangel fill her vision. The half moon provided enough light to distinguish shape and the colors on warship, but otherwise most details could not be made out.

"First time seeing it?" Lunamaria asked.

"No, but first time this close. I never engaged it at Jachin Due or Messiah."

"The legged ship is a piece of work," Dearka commented. He had joined up with the others as they left Shinn's home. "How does it compare to the Minerva, Athrun?"

The young man so addressed kept his view forward as he spoke. "It came down to the crew." Past tense, Shiho thought. An evaluation made not about a hypothetical setting, but instead an explanation of history.

"Are you saying we didn't have enough power?" Shinn growled.

Athrun turned toward Shinn. "You faced them when they were only trying to stop the war. You've never fought the Archangel when they held nothing back. Or..." He paused, for a few seconds. "Or when Kira went all out."

"What? He was just taking it easy on me?" Shinn argued.

Probably. Shiho had analyzed most of Freedom's battles, especially the ones against Providence and Legend. After discovering that Admiral Yamato also piloted Strike, she scoured the archives for those sorties as well. Unfortunately, no record remained of the final battle between Strike and Aegis. Nonetheless, she might very well be the foremost expert on Yamato's fighting ability, with the exception of himself, of course. And given this foreknowledge, Shiho believed that, in the Second Bloody Valentine War, Kira Yamato took it easy on everyone.

"No, Shinn," Athrun answered. "But regardless of your battle against him, in Operation Angel Down, the ship escaped. You do not make up the entire crew of the Minerva, Shinn, just as the Archangel consists of more individuals than simply Kira. If you want to compare the two ships, then compare everyone on them, not just the respective ace pilots."

"Heh. Yzak didn't feel that way," Dearka slyly interjected. "How many times did you scream, 'Die, Strike!'"

"Shut the hell up, Dearka," Yzak snapped. Shiho smiled at their antics.

"But Athrun's right," Dearka continued. "The crew... they had civilians working for them. People with no military background. But they still fought well; they're survivors."

"You mean like Miriallia and Sai?" Lunamaria asked. Dearka nodded.

"And Kira," Athrun supplied.

All heads whipped to Athrun. "What?" Yzak demanded.

And so, in an even voice, Athrun told the story of Kira's first experience in Strike, and, more notably, his lack of experience beforehand.

"He took on Miguel with no training? That's impossible." Yzak stated coolly. "He's lying."

Dearka frowned in thought. "Reprogramming the OS while fighting? I can't believe that, and I've fought with him in the First War."

"Actually..." a soft voice made itself heard. Everyone turned to Meyrin. "He can do it." Shiho observed as everyone allowed the weight of Meyrin's professional opinion sank into everyone's minds. "And, Waltfeld-san talked about how he adjusted Strike's settings for desert combat in the midst of battle. Things like heat convection."

Shiho grinned. "So he did not look like an idiot, floundering in the sand. Right, Dearka? Commander Jule?" She had, of course, studied Strike's desert battles as well.

"That's enough out of you, Pilot," Yzak replied, mildly embarrassed. Athrun, Shinn, and the Hawke sisters looked like they missed some form of inside joke.

"We couldn't even take down an inexperienced civilian? Oh man," Dearka moaned. "At least he's a Coordinator." Yzak looked away, clearly not believing Athrun's statements.

The blue-haired man stared straight into Dearka's eyes. "Mwu-san pilots better than most Redcoats, Dearka."

"We're here," Lunamaria interrupted. They finally arrived at the ship so many of whom had failed to destroy.

x-x-x

"Oy! The ZAFT crew is here!" a voice boomed from across the Archangel hangar. That sounded like Chief Murdoch, Meyrin thought. Her vision scrambled to find a certain blond, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she realized Cagalli had not arrived yet. Glancing over at Athrun, she noticed that he too was attempting to locate the princess.

"Thank you for attending, everyone," Mwu greeted as he and his fiancée approached the newcomers.

"No, thank you for inviting us," Yzak replied smoothly. "And congratulations on your upcoming wedding."

"Thank you, Jule-kun," Murrue said. As the couple exchanged pleasantries and introductions with everyone, Meyrin took another scan over the hangar. It contained only two mobile suits, which she recognized as Infinite Justice and the new suit that Athrun and Kira had designed. Simple, modest decorations adorned various parts of the hangar. Folks gathered at various places including the catwalks, on top of Justice's left foot, the simulation center, and the large buffet table. Andrew Waltfeld, wearing a chef's apron and hat of all things, stood behind the buffet table with a pair of tongs in his hand.

"Dearka-kun, are you alright?" Murrue asked in concern.

The man in question tugged nervously at his collar and seemed to be looking beyond the couple. Following his gaze, Meyrin noticed the approach of Miriallia, her orange dress swishing from her strides. Behind her was an amused and slightly intoxicated Murdoch, along with Sai Argyle, fellow programmer on Project Sim.

"Hello Athrun, Lunamaria, Meyrin." Miriallia then turned to the blond ZAFT pilot with a rather crafty smile. "De-ar-ka."

"Uh... yo, Miriallia," he got out awkwardly. Meyrin looked at her sister, seeing the surprise mirrored. They knew each other?

Athrun leaned back and whispered to the two sisters and Shinn. "They used to date. After the First War."

Meyrin's eyes widened at this new revelation, and her mind raced to form a coherent pattern amongst the clues.

Dearka fought against the Archangel as part of the Creuset Squad.

Dearka, at some point, fought on the same side as the Archangel in the First War.

Dearka, thus, defected from ZAFT to the Archangel, for some unknown reason.

Dearka knew that Miriallia was a civilian that served on the Archangel.

Dearka used to date Miriallia, after the First War.

Of course, she reached the obvious conclusion any female her age would reach, but before she had a chance to evaluate its potential validity, Chief Murdoch shouted for all to hear. "Hey, Elsman!" He wrapped his arm around Dearka's shoulders and pulled the pilot into something resembling a headlock. "Let's get a drink. Wash away your sorrow of getting dumped by Little Miss Pretty here." Captain Ramius hid her face in both her hands while Colonel La Flaga almost choked on his drink.

"Oy! Let go!" Dearka shouted, struggling and failing to get out of the big man's hold, despite being a Coordinator. "That was years ago!" he yelled with a frown.

"Wait, she dumped you?" Yzak inquired loudly. All eyes turned to the young commander. "You told me you dumped her."

All eyes then turned to Dearka, who was in the act of making shushing gestures while still partially bent over and trapped in Murdoch's headlock. Meyrin watched Miriallia slowly cross her arms and develop a cold smile that would spell doom for the blond pilot. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Shiho convulsing with silent giggles and Mwu failing to suppress a smile.

Scanning the expectant crowd, Dearka turned and pushed Murdoch. "Hey, show me the drinks, Old Man."

"I'm not an old man, Boy!" Murdoch responded, but nevertheless complied in leaving.

"We're going to have a talk later, Dearka!" Miriallia yelled, shaking her fist in the air. Resolve broke then and guffaws filled the area.

After the laughter subsided, Lunamaria grabbed Miriallia's attention. Holding onto Shinn's hand, she introduced, "Miriallia, Sai, this is Shinn, whom I've talked about. Shinn, this is-"

"Miriallia Haw?" Shinn questioned in confusion.

"Shinn... Asuka?" Miriallia replied in equal befuddlement. Does she know everyone in ZAFT, Meyrin thought to herself.

Her sister echoed her thoughts, "Do you two know each other?"

"We went to grade school together before my family moved to space," Miriallia replied. Seeing some confusion due to their age difference, she further explained, "He had skipped a few grades and entered in our class." Turning to Shinn, she asked, "You're with ZAFT now?"

Shinn nodded, but had a puzzled expression. "You were on the Archangel?"

"Yup. I was on Heliopolis when everything happened," she answered.

Shinn, however, still had the same look on his face. "But, the Archangel was with the Earth Alliance then, right? Why would you join them?"

Miriallia hesitated, and glanced at Captain Ramius, who looked down in something resembling sadness. Or maybe regret? Sai stepped in and carefully answered, "Things happened in the First War."

With a more upbeat expression, Miriallia changed the topic. "Hey, I remember now! You have a cute little sister. Mayu, right? How is she doing?"

Meyrin heard her sister Lunamaria inhale sharply as Shinn's grip on her hand intensified. After a half minute of no reply, Shinn finally answered in a low voice.

"Things happened in the First War."

An awkward silence fell over the group, as each veteran remembered their respective horrific experiences in the Bloody Valentine Wars. Shinn in particular still harbored resentment toward some of the Archangel crew, especially against La Flaga for some unknown reason. While on a logical level he probably understood that the war was at fault, not the individuals, holding a grudge was one of Shinn's exceptional talents. Meyrin recalled the hours her sister spent pleading for Shinn to attend this party. But, she acknowledged, he did come and that does say something.

A soft, feminine voice entered the area. "Athrun-chan!"

Chan?

"Aunt Caridad. Uncle Haruma," Athrun greeted the approaching couple, bowing slightly.

"My, you've lost weight," Caridad remarked as she lightly pinched Athrun's cheek. "You haven't been eating properly, have you?" A blush crept up Athrun's face as Yzak lightly snickered and Luna smiled behind her hand. He's so cute when he blushes! "We haven't seen you in a while, Athrun-chan."

"Ah, Aunt, Uncle, this is Meyrin Hawke," Athrun introduced, ignoring the reactions of his "friends" at the moment. "Her sister, Lunamaria Hawke, and Shinn Asuka. We served together aboard the Minerva. This is Yzak Jule, who was part of the Creuset Squad with me, along with Dearka Elsman over there by the drinks. And this is Shiho Hahnenfuss, part of the Jule Squad." Everyone nodded as they were introduced. Caridad gave them all interesting looks that could only be described as... appraising.

Facing the ZAFT crew, Athrun announced, "Everyone, this is Haruma and Caridad Yamato, parents of Kira Yamato." Meyrin glanced over at Shinn and Yzak, watching their surprised reactions. Meeting the parents of someone you tried to kill repeatedly was not an everyday experience.

"Ah, so you know our son," Haruma commented.

"Yes, Admiral Yamato commands the Orb Fleet," Yzak answered neutrally.

"He does?" Caridad responded in surprise. The parents turned to Athrun for confirmation. "He did not mention this before."

"Kira... most likely didn't want to worry you," Athrun supplied weakly. Caridad wore her concern on her face while Haruma sighed. In defense of his friend, Athrun continued, "Well, it has been six months since the last battle, so he probably forgot."

"Wait, he's had the nation's military under his command for the past half year?" Haruma demanded.

Athrun paused for a moment, obviously evaluating the situation. Such delicate circumstances required subtlety. His best friend's fate lay in his hands at the moment, but, fortunately, Athrun possessed great tactical skills.

"Could you not tell Kira I told you this?" Athrun asked, abandoning his friend. Strategic withdrawal was called for, apparently. Meyrin grinned in amusement.

"How does Yamato forget his own rank?" Shinn asked with a frown.

Athrun sighed at this. "Nobody in the Orb Forces actually addresses Kira as 'Admiral Yamato.' Instead, they call him 'Kira-sama' or 'Kid' and sometimes 'Squirt.' And, as I said before, he never formally enlisted in any military whatsoever. Orb sort of... just follows his decisions. Right, Ramius-san?"

"That's close to the truth, Athrun-chan," Murrue teased. Yzak lost some control at this point as laughter escaped from him.

"Do you know Athrun very well, Caridad-san?" Meyrin asked.

Caridad nodded. "Yes, he and Kira were inseparable as kids when we lived on the moon. Why, one time, they bought this green tent and-"

"Ah, Aunt Caridad! Why don't I show you the simulator that Kira and I have been working on?" Athrun practically shouted as he pulled the couple away from Meyrin and the others.

Eyeing Murrue, Mu, Sai, and Miriallia, Yzak smirked mischievously. "Captain Ramius, I would like to propose a joint mission between the crew of the Voltaire and the members of the Archangel."

"Oh, and what would the nature of this mission be?" Murrue ventured with an amused expression.

x-x-x

Mission: Operation Tent Story

Objective: Obtain any and all information regarding the Green Tent Story. Military Intelligence indicates that the following individuals have information concerning this matter: Caridad Yamato, Kira Yamato, Athrun Zala. Potential Resources: Haruma Yamato. Operatives must obtain this information without Zala's knowledge.

Location: Archangel-class mobile assault ship – "Archangel"

Time: Mission must be completed by midnight

x-x-x

As Mwu had predicted earlier, most of the guests crowded around the Mobile Suit Simulator. Four cockpit cocoons were set up, each the size of a compact car. A holographic screen of impressive dimensions displayed the current battle from the viewpoint of several chase cameras. Further screens below displayed live feeds of cockpit interiors; each pilot wore a headpiece attached with a video camera. At the moment, a black ZGMF-1001/M Gunner ZAKU Phantom fought against ZGMF-X88S Gaia, which, in Miriallia's opinion, bore an incredibly ugly ketchup and mustard color scheme. An abandoned moon base served as the setting for this battle, and several buildings have already been destroyed.

"Who do you think is going to win?" Miriallia asked. She stood with the other guests near her age, which thus far consisted of Sai and the ZAFT crew.

"I don't know how good the colonel is," Yzak replied, "but Dearka's handling his suit better than normal. I've never seen him pilot that well, simulator or not."

"Waltfeld-san is one of the primary testers of this project," Sai remarked.

Miriallia slightly accused, "So this is what you guys do all day? Write and play the world's greatest video game?" And here she thought they actually worked for Orb. "You guys haven't changed at all, have you?"

"Well, this is what we did in our research at Heliopolis," Sai protested. "Remember the virtual reality stuff? This is merely a bigger and better version. We're just trying to make the simulator as realistic as possible, so the cocoons shake violently."

"Realistic? Then why do we hear sound effects in space?" Miriallia pointed out, referring to the holographic display and the surrounding speakers. Despite the fact that Dearka and Andrew fought each other on the surface of the moon, the system emitted sound effects for the beam shots and mobile suit movements as if the battle took place on Earth. "And I suppose the background music is what pilots actually hear in their suits?"

"It's really dull and boring to watch if it's silent," Sai answered with a weak smile.

Miriallia shook her head and muttered, "Boys."

"Miri... Meyrin is on the Project Sim team too," Sai pointed out.

"I know. She complains about how all the engineers keep making passes at her when Athrun's not around," Miriallia drawled out teasingly, turning to the redhead. The statement prompted Athrun to choke on his drink while Meyrin blushed fiercely.

Returning her gaze to the holographic display, Miriallia regarded the battle of stealth. Dearka utilized the terrain in conjunction with his sniper talents, executing hit-and-run tactics from hidden and distant positions. Moving stealthily with a mobile suit required a form of finesse of its own, and Dearka controlled his unit flawlessly. Given what she knew of him, Miriallia found his steady method of fighting somewhat surprising.

Waltfeld also stalked and hid around the base like his nickname, but instead desired for a close-combat encounter. Thus far, the older combatant discovered Dearka once, and the engagement demonstrated his superior melee skills. Fortunately for Dearka, he only suffered the destruction of his right shoulder shield.

"Why can't he see Colonel Waltfeld?" Lunamaria asked.

Looking at the screen, Miriallia saw what Lunamaria meant. Dearka was scanning a dark brown building with his sensors and visuals. He currently hid within a dilapidated storage armory, peering through a wrecked hole in one of the walls. However, according to Waltfeld's readout, Gaia was situated within the ZAKU's line of sight, in front of the brown building.

"How is he invisible? Mirage Colloid?" Shinn asked.

"No. Just watch," Sai answered with a knowing smile.

Just as Dearka crept away from the makeshift window, a pair of green energy beams arced from the brown building to the second story above him. Alarms went off in his mobile suit, warning of the numerous amounts of large masses falling on top of it. Despite the moon's lower gravity, the falling debris could still cause some amount of damage to the ZAKU, which lacked phase shift armor. The mobile suit dodged out of the way toward the left, only to see an explosion rip through the wall in front of it, exposing a brown Gaia in its mobile armor form.

Miriallia heard Lunamaria's quiet gasp. "He changed the Phase Shift colors to camouflage himself?"

In such a cramped environment due to the debris, Dearka wisely chose to drop the large Orthros cannon. Hopping back away from Waltfeld, he rotated the ZAKU's left shoulder shield and armed himself with a beam tomahawk. Waltfeld took the opportunity to transform Gaia into its mobile suit form. But before the Desert Tiger had a chance to draw a beam saber, Dearka rushed forward with a shoulder bash using his spiked shield. The Gaia dove to its right out of the way and, in mid-air, switched to arm itself with a beam rifle.

A blinding light filled all hologram screens as Dearka's flash grenade went off.

Waltfeld refrained from firing blindly. The ZAKU dove for its Orthros, sliding along the ground as it reached the weapon. Nice gamble, Miriallia thought. He had faked entering melee combat to create an opportunity to use the powerful cannon. While still on the floor, Dearka swung the barrel toward his opponent and opened fire immediately. However, Waltfeld had already transformed back into the quadruped form and currently raced sideways along the wall. Dearka clipped Gaia's left wing, but otherwise his half dozen shots traced Gaia's path along two walls.

"Idiot," Yzak muttered.

The build collapsed internally due to the damage suffered from the beam cannon. Realizing too late, Dearka attempted to stand from his prone position, but the falling debris knocked him back down. Two seconds later, Waltfeld fired his beam rifle into the ZAKU's cockpit, winning the battle unambiguously. Eh, Dearka will probably make up some excuse about how he had an inferior suit, Miriallia thought.

Cheers erupted from the audience of the exciting battle. The doors to the simulator cocoons rotated upwards, and the two pilots emerged. "That was a dirty trick, Colonel, with the phase shift," Dearka remarked, smiling. "I have to use that one some time."

"I thought you would appreciate it, Elsman," Waltfeld returned with a grin. "What do you think?" he asked, patting the cockpit.

"Nice. I'm going to get the techies to reprogram my suit with some of these features. The OS on this thing is awesome. Athrun and Yamato wrote this?"

"Technically that's classified information," a voice interrupted. Erica Simmons walked up to the pair of pilots. "But there is no real way to hide that from you ZAFT folks tonight. Yes, those two, along with Sai and Meyrin, are the main programmers. Kira-kun did most of the design."

"You guys got some of the ZAKU leg movements wrong, though. It's less flexible in real life," Dearka commented.

Erica answered, "Well, we don't have access to ZAFT specifications, aside from the damaged suits left behind in Operation: Fury. Almost all of these suits were reverse engineered from combat data." She then smiled next. "And of course Athrun-kun doesn't reveal ZAFT secrets."

"Which suits do you have?" Shinn asked. Miriallia had almost forgotten that Lunamaria mentioned her boyfriend was a mobile suit pilot.

"All of Orb's, ZAFT's, and EA's primary production mobile suits and their most popular variant attachments," Athrun answered. "And some of the unique suits, like the Heliopolis Five, both Freedoms, both Justices, and the new suit we just designed."

"Do you have Legend, Commander Zala?" the girl known as Shiho inquired. Miriallia and everyone else turned to her, but the ZAFT redcoat kept her focus on the blue-haired man.

"Somewhat. Kira designed it entirely himself, based on his two battles against it..." Athrun's voice drifted off slightly.

"Something wrong, Athrun-kun?" Meyrin asked.

"No, nothing is wrong. It's just that, in one of the scenarios we programmed, Kira failed over a dozen times when piloting Freedom. But he got it on the first attempt with Legend." Athrun answered. "Would you like to try out that suit, Shiho?"

"Yes, Commander," she answered with a smile. "I did some research for the later DRAGOON system, and I'm curious on how you re-created of it. May I also attempt that particular scenario?"

Athrun paused at the unexpected request and then glanced warily at Shinn and Lunamaria. "That should be... no problem. One thing, though, Shiho. Part of test requirements is that you cannot kill the targets; you can only disable them."

"I had expected as much," Shiho replied.

x-x-x

"The Minerva!" Lunamaria gasped. On the holographic display, the Minerva cruised at combat speed in one end of the space battlefield, while Legend floated at the other. A live feed window appeared underneath it, showing Shiho's movements within the cockpit. Four other displays appeared with skeletal outlines of the following:

Minerva (AI Template: Talia Gladys)

ZGMF-X56S Impulse (AI Template: Shinn Asuka)

ZGMF-1001/M Blaze ZAKU Phantom (AI Template: Rey Za Burrel)

ZGMF-1000/A1 Gunner ZAKU Warrior (AI Template: Lunamaria Hawke)

"What the hell, Zala?" Shinn shouted. "You and Yamato are training Orb to kill us?" Lunamaria gripped Shinn's left arm to hold him back, but she was also frowning. The other guests all quieted down to watch the scene unfold.

"It's not what you think." Athrun answered. "We programmed these artificial intelligences to help recreate combat simulations. Then we compare those simulations with actual combat data. There is no other way to actually verify the mobile suits were reverse engineered correctly, short of stealing military secrets from other nations."

"And you just happened to pick us?" Shinn challenged, his red eyes reflecting his anger.

"Kira programmed the combat styles of the pilots he's engaged in multiple battles. That includes you, Yzak, and Dearka." Athrun turned toward Lunamaria. "Your AI is based off of pure combat data, since Kira never personally fought you."

Lunamaria turned her head away in resentment. While she was somewhat relieved at hearing this, the concept of having an entire nation's military specifically training to defeat her was still daunting.

"You can phrase it any way you want, Zala, but you're drilling your soldiers to fight us," Shinn continued ranting.

"Shinn! The military never practices against these AIs!"

Lunamaria looked up at that statement in surprise.

"Like I said, we only use it to verify that we reverse engineered the mobile suits correctly," Athrun repeated. "The artificial intelligences that the military trains with are based off of more generic strategies and tactics. On my authority, I forbid the use of individual combat styles outside of testing purposes."

Arms crossed and clearly not appeased, Shinn retorted sarcastically, "So only you and Yamato train to kill us? That makes me feel so much better."

"Shinn," Lunamaria whispered, trying to calm him down. The look of frustration and helplessness on Athrun's face – a very familiar sight during their days on Minerva – indicated to her that he really had no ill-intentions on this issue. She still found it disturbing on a certain level, but even if Shinn's allegations were true, Lunamaria could understand that it makes perfect sense to learn to fight the best the enemy has to offer.

Athrun sighed in exasperation. "Shinn," he said more calmly, "supposing you are correct – and you are not – you of all people have no right to complain."

"What?" Shinn asked in genuine confusion. Athrun's sudden glare could only be described as harsh and accusing, and even Lunamaria almost flinched back from it. She glanced at Shinn who, unexpectedly, widened his eyes in some sort of realization.

The sound of a laser blast from the Minerva's Tristan beam cannons penetrated the conversation, and many of the audience returned their attention to the unfolding battle. Shinn looked away from Athrun, unable to meet the other's gaze. Lunamaria gave his arm what she hoped was a comforting squeeze.

x-x-x

Inside the simulator cocoon, Shiho Hahnenfuss attempted the simplest strategy one can use to fight the Minerva: destroy the separate Flyers of Impulse before they can connect and enable Phase Shift armor. Racing toward the warship, she guided Legend smoothly around the initial green Tristan beam blasts and shots from the Isolde naval rifles. Much to her chagrin, though, these weapons fired relentlessly upon her unit, impeding her progress greatly. In normal operations, the Minerva faced staggering numbers of enemies and thus switched targets constantly; in this battle, however, the former ZAFT flagship had only one target: the Legend.

Dodging and deflecting the complicated firing patterns almost out of instinct, she watched as the Core Splendor, Chest Flyer, Leg Flyer, and Force Silhouette launched from the complex catapult system. Aiming her high-energy beam rifle, Shiho did a rough estimate in her head as the targeting system ever so slowly locked onto the Core Splendor. Dammit, too slow! Switching to manual, she fired the rifle, but her beams narrowly missed the Impulse's main component as the Flyers connected together.

Realizing she came in too far into Minerva's sphere of influence, Shiho redirected her flight path away from the warship. In the meantime, Impulse finalized the connection of the Force Silhouette and activated its Phase Shift armor. The red, blue, and white color scheme appeared on its body surface, and the black and red maneuver fins of the Silhouette emitted exhaust from the flight engines. A red ZAKU Gunner Warrior and a white ZAKU Blaze Phantom exited from Minerva's two side linear catapults, ready to protect the carrier from any threat. The red Gunner assumed a position above the ship, whereas Impulse and the white Phantom streaked toward their target. The Minerva oriented itself to face the Legend while launching a full spread of its Parsifal missiles.

Four small DRAGOON pods hurtled out of Legend's back, assuming seemingly random positions around the mobile suit to shoot down the incoming missiles. Shiho aimed her beam rifle at the head of the closer mobile suit, Impulse, and fired. The enemy moved its head and suit slightly out of the way, arrogantly avoiding the beam. Just like the battle against Freedom, Shiho thought. Fortunately for her, she had analyzed that awesome battle in great detail and had several theories on how Freedom should have fought. Now to test those theories out.

Closing distance fast, Impulse drew its beam saber out, clearly avoiding a long distance battle in which the Legend would have the advantage. Recalling the four earlier pods which took out the Parsifal missiles, Shiho pointed the remaining four small DRAGOON units still attached to her suit at the approaching enemy. Setting them on a rotational algorithm, the units fired in quick succession to send out a continuous barrage of neon green beams. Simultaneously, she drifted backwards while shooting her beam rifle at the white ZAKU, which hovered to her right.

Despite the torrent of blasts, Impulse rushed into melee distance, blocking some of Shiho's fire with its shield and barrel rolling out of the way of the rest. At the last possible moment, Shiho jerked her mobile suit away from the vicious swing of Impulse's saber, letting the enemy mobile suit zoom past her. Drawing out her beam javelin with Legend's left hand, Shiho brought up the reflective shield of her right arm to block the incoming fire from the white Phantom. Ejecting both large and three small DRAGOON pods, she propelled her unit to engage the ZAKU.

Time to do three things at once.

One. Shiho directed the two large DRAGOON pods, each capable of discharging five separate beams, to circle around Impulse and fired repeatedly in a prism-like pattern, hampering the suit's movement and keeping it in place.

Two. At the same time, the three DRAGOON units assumed positions behind the Phantom and fired, hemming the white suit to stay in a position between the pods and the incoming Legend. The ZAKU deftly dodged each of the DRAGOON pods.

Three. Simultaneously, Shiho began to swing her beam javelin at the ZAKU, which was still armed with only a rifle. The arc of her weapon neared the white Phantom's right arm, ready to slice-

BE-E-E-EEP.

"Dammit!" Shiho cursed as she barely blocked the powerful blast of the red Gunner's long range cannon. Her cockpit vibrated from the impact as Legend was knocked off momentum. Checking her radar, she saw that the ZAKU gunner had advanced close enough to fire its Orthros cannon, but stayed far enough away to be out of range of Legend's DRAGOON units. Her tempo ruined, Shiho commanded the pods to dock back into her suit to recharge. She almost dodged another ferocious fly-by attack from Impulse by performing a partial sideways flip, but the pink saber clipped her left shoulder slightly as the enemy suit passed. Fortunately, she still had full functional use of that arm. As a result of her partial flip, her suit became upside-down relative to three enemy units and the Minerva.

Chance! Despite the weightless nature of open space, all human pilots, Natural and Coordinator alike, tend to fight with a concept of "up" and "down." Centuries of space travel paled in comparison to millions of years of evolution within Earth's gravity. While all forces utilized tactics of a three-dimensional nature, most pilots still oriented themselves to have their heads "up" relative to the some imaginary plane; this plane was usually defined by the layout of mobile suit carriers and warships. Very few pilots were capable of abandoning this inborn sense of orientation.

And Shiho was one of those few.

Before Impulse had the opportunity to turn around from its last pass, Shiho rushed toward it while aiming her rifle. The white Blaze Phantom fired upon Legend, but her left beam shield easily blocked the barrage. Shiho shot twice at the still-turning Impulse, but it rotated with its shield side first, blocking both hits. With their suits oriented upside down relative to each other, the Redcoat pointed her rifle higher, aiming for the unshielded legs. Her blast hit, causing an explosion at the left ankle which changed Impulse's momentum slightly. Seeing her opening, Shiho streaked in to cleave the enemy in two at the waist with her beam javelin.

Impulse separated.

Just like the battle against Freedom. Heart racing at the unexpected tactic, Shiho banked hard to the right, but still fell prey to the beam from Impulse's rifle. Checking the damage report, two of the small DRAGOON pods on her back were destroyed. Glancing at her radar, she mentally calculated the location of the enemy suits and released her remaining DRAGOON pods against Impulse, forcing it to retreat. Seeing that the white Blaze Phantom also stayed a safe distance away, Shiho took the moment to gather her breat- CRAP!

On a hunch, Legend whirled around and brought up both beam shields to block the powerful blasts of both Tristan cannons from the Minerva. Shiho's cockpit rocked violently as her mobile suit spun out of control. Panting heavily, she mentally berated herself for not seeing the reason behind the enemies' retreat as she tried to regain command of her suit's movement.

BE-E-E-EEP.

Again the Gunner! Activating her beam shields again, Shiho half prayed that the Orthros cannon would miss. Unfortunately, the beam hit her left large DRAGOON pod, destroying it completely with an explosion. At least it stopped my spinning, she mused.

BE-E-E-EEP.

The white ZAKU, this time. Performing a swan dive, Legend avoided the green beam by less than two meters. Spinning to face the Blaze Phantom, Shiho brought her rifle and shot straight at her white target, hitting the right shoulder. The ZAKU's shield exploded off completely, damaging the right arm. While the shield was designed to take a direct blast from the average beam rifle, Legend's rifle was powered by a mobile suit with a nuclear core; thus its destructive output exceeded that of a normal beam firearm. I can do this. I can live through this. Shiho took deep breaths in a vain attempt to slow the heartbeat that was pounding in her ears. Checking her radar, she noticed Impulse had retreated toward the Minerva. A new heat source emitted from the warship: Sword Silhouette.

With Impulse occupied, Legend streaked toward the red ZAKU Gunner. After firing two blasts that Shiho dodged, the ZAKU released the Orthros cannon, drew out a beam tomahawk with its right hand, and picked up the cannon with its left hand. Driving itself forward, the ZAKU fired off another blast from the cannon, forcing Shiho to bear to her right. As the two suits closed in, Legend thrust with the beam javelin in her left hand, but the red Gunner intercepted the blow at the weapon's handle with the long Orthros cannon. The ZAKU then swung the tomahawk at the Legend; in response Shiho propelled her suit backwards and activated the DRAGOON pods to fly out and fire upon the red unit. Without advanced maneuvering capabilities, the Gunner fell prey to the multi-vector attack. In one and a half seconds, Shiho completely disabled the red ZAKU.

Making a split second tactical decision, Shiho tossed her beam rifle aside and reached for the Orthros beam cannon as her DRAGOON units docked. All ZAFT mobile suits had compatible dock points for beam rifles; it was a matter of whether or not the suit can supply the necessary energy for the weapon. Pivoting in place, she swung the cannon towards the white ZAKU, which had just finished replacing the energy clip in its beam rifle. Ejecting her DRAGOON units once again, Shiho forced the Blaze Phantom into a predictable path so she could fire the Orthros cannon. Almost. Deciding to aim for the units head, she tilted the cannon slightly to the left. 1.3 seconds left...

The knife embedded itself into the cannon just as she fired.

With her Coordinator mind, Shiho was able to simultaneously recognize Impulse's Folding Razor anti-armor knife, observe that it hit directly into one of the energy arteries of the cannon, and curse that the radar did not detect the knife due to its lack of heat. Clever pilot, Shiho thought. Before she could let go of the cannon, the Orthros exploded in a mixture of fire, shrapnel, and beam energy. Despite having Phase Shift armor, Legend was damaged from the explosion. The white ZAKU took advantage of this pause in Shiho's attack to destroy one of the small DRAGOON pods.

Summoning the remaining pods back, Shiho drew her other javelin, allowing her to wield beam weapons in both hands. Impulse had armed itself with both anti-ship Excalibur swords and was still equipped with the maneuverable Force Silhouette. Although she normally preferred to avoid melee combat, Shiho decided that direct engagement with Impulse would prevent the white ZAKU from firing upon her. The weapons of Legend and Impulse crashed into each other, sizzling as the beams intercepted. The two mobile suits attacked and blocked and parried, clashing to gain the upper hand. Legend received a severe gash at the waist while Impulse's chest suffered damage from a glancing blow. Impulse's attacks became more daring, more intense, Shiho noticed. She barely blocked each swing, almost always on the defensive. Each of her blasts from the DRAGOON pods were avoided by mere meters, as the Impulse pilot knew Shiho would not execute a killing attack.

A furious overhead chop crashed through her defenses, tearing and crushing over a meter of metal on her right shoulder. Seeing her impending doom, Shiho recklessly kicked Impulse in the chest, hoping to bounce off backwards. The pilot of Impulse had awesome reflexes and intercepted her leg with the other Excalibur sword. Despite the damage to Legend's foot, Shiho's plan worked, and the two suits separated. Deciding on a spur of the moment course of action, she hurled her left javelin at the enemy.

Rushing forward, Impulse ignored the javelin embedding itself into the right leg and savagely thrust one of the Excalibur swords at Legend. Borrowing a tactic from Freedom, Shiho directed Legend to clamp the anti-ship sword with her free hand and her remaining javelin. However, she was unable to completely slow it down, and the relentless sword pierced into the left side of Legend's chest. Fortunately, the stab was not fatal, and Shiho reacted in time to direct all of her DRAGOON pods to point at Impulse.

Over a dozen laser blasts hit Impulse on the limbs and head.

Ecstatic with her defeat over Impulse, Shiho kicked the enemy suit away. Her left arm now unusable, she tossed aside her remaining beam javelin to yank out the damaged, embedded Excalibur sword. Turning to face the remaining suit, Shiho ejected all of her DRAGOON pods to once and for all take down the Blaze ZAKU. Following a complicated positioning sequence, the pods released a deluge of shots upon the white Phantom, blasting the arms and legs to disabl-

BE-E-E-EEP.

"The Minerva? No, it can't be!" Shiho gasped. Shiho watched in fear, surprise, and awe as the headless, one-armed, one-legged Impulse hurtled itself toward her wielding a beam saber. Utterly unarmed and practically paralyzed by the sheer tenacity of the enemy, Shiho tried to maneuver her unit away. But the Impulse, smoking and emitting electrical sparks in over a dozen locations, reached her nonetheless and thrust the beam saber into her suit, piercing the nuclear core.

Realizing her imminent death, she glanced at all of her displays, and, to the left, she saw the glow of Minerva's Tannhäuser cannon. She had one last thought as blinding whiteness filled her vision.

How appropriate.

x-x-x

Outdoing themselves, much of the audience cheered even louder than they had done after in Andrew's battle against the blond kid. Despite Hahnenfuss's loss, she performed very well against such incredible odds and especially with the non-kill restraint. However, Murrue noticed several veterans of the First Valentine War kept silent, thoughtfully watching the hologram screens.

"That kid..." Mwu muttered.

Murrue gave her fiancé a questioning glance.

Mwu turned to her with an unreadable expression. After a slight pause, he supplied, "After you and Kira came to Dardanelles, I did some research on, well, his battles. The EA had a record of it."

Murrue nodded in understanding. Unable to prevent herself, she thought of "it", which was the nightmarish battle at Jachin Due. Grieving for the death of Mwu and Flay, Murrue and the rest of the crew helplessly watched the battlefield in the heavily damaged Archangel. Everyone prayed for Athrun's and Cagalli's success in preventing Genesis from destroying all life on Earth, while at the same time became morbidly entranced by Kira's duel against Rau Le Creuset.

Which had an ending that held an uncanny resemblance with this simulation's outcome.

The hissing sound of the cocoon door opening pulled Murrue away from her reverie. Hahnenfuss, however, did not step out. Dearka, who was standing near the front, rushed over to the door. "Shiho!"

Yzak pushed his way through the crowd to reach the cockpit. The two friends helped their trembling teammate out of the cocoon. "I thought I died," a pale Shiho murmured, leaning on the Dearka and Yzak for support.

"Athrun! What the hell is wrong with your simulator?" Yzak yelled.

"I'm fine, Commander Jule," Hahnenfuss insisted. "It was... intense. Very intense." Seeing a chair that Meyrin provided, the three moved toward it. Murrue grabbed a cup of water for the pilot.

"You did very well, Shiho," Athrun commented, walking up to the Redcoat. Murrue glanced at Mwu, communicating that he should disperse the crowd away from this scene.

"I failed, Commander Zala," the young woman replied gravely. She took the water Murrue handed her. "Thank you, Captain Ramius."

"Shinn is one of the best pilots out there, Shiho," Athrun justified, glancing over at the young man. "And Kira did an amazing job duplicating Shinn's tactics."

"One of the best? You took him down rather easily, Commander Zala."

Shinn jerked his head toward that comment. "What?"

Hahnenfuss turned to Shinn. "Your fight against Commander Zala at the Messiah was horrible." Before Shinn could react, she continued, "Not just your performance, but you actually tried to attack Luna. There's no excuse for that."

"Talk about bonding amongst the pilots," Dearka commented. "The Voltaire's gonna be interesting, I can see."

"Shinn was confused at the time," Athrun explained, ignoring Dearka. Murrue glanced over at Shinn; he seemed to be avoiding Lunamaria's gaze.

"Confused? Did he mistake Impulse for Strike?" Hahnenfuss asked sarcastically.

"That's enough, Shiho," Athrun declared.

Eyes widening, Hahnenfuss sat up straight. "My apologies, Commander Zala," she spoke stiffly.

"Pulling rank already, Athrun?" a new voice interjected.

x-x-x

"And now we arrive fashionably late," Cagalli commented, as she and Lacus walked through the hallway to the Archangel hangar. Pink-chan bounced along their side.

"And fashionably dressed," Lacus added with a satisfied smile. She was unable to refrain from teasing her friend, who, at the moment wore a stunning green dress with orange highlights.

Cagalli gave the other woman a dry look. "You know, Lacus, I'm quite certain I can defeat you in a food fight."

"Oh, is that a threat, Representative Atha? Recall that I am a PLANT citizen, now. Such a provocation would constitute an act of war."

"Yes, I had forgotten that," Cagalli answered thoughtfully. "Perhaps I'll steal your precious Kira away when he comes back, instead."

"Pardon?" Lacus asked, slowing her pace.

"I'll just give Kira more responsibilities, which would be easy since he's an Admiral," Cagalli lazily drawled, "and, spend some quality time with him as brother and sister. After all, since we have such busy schedules we haven't enjoyed each other's company for some time. And he won't say no to me because he will definitely want to make sure I am fine with all the stress from leading a country and the whole mess with Athrun."

Lacus came to a stop and warily faced Cagalli.

"I would schedule these responsibilities and brother-sister events on your free time so you can never see him. On top of that, you would have no right to complain because Kira is simply visiting his family. How can you possibly deny him that without sounding like a shrew? So then you'll develop this silent resentment toward Kira and myself, which will grow each time we get together – without you. Eventually it will fester to a point such that it will completely ruin your dreamy relationship."

Cagalli crossed her arms and put on a gratified smile as Lacus could only stare in silence and apprehension. Serves her right for getting me this stupid dress, Cagalli thought. Okay, maybe it really was not that stupid. She actually liked the dress. The gown did complement her figure well, and the colors were gorgeous. The material felt smooth against her skin, almost sensual, especially arou- That's besides the point! It was the principle of the matter!

Lacus found this game intriguing and decided to participate. Rarely did she have such an interesting playmate. Stealing my Kira, will she? After a few moments, she acquired a sinister expression. "Tell me, Cagalli... do you think I can seduce Athrun? Away from both you and Meyrin?"

If Cagalli had been walking, she would have tripped. A combination of shock, disbelief, and – though she would never admit it – jealousy crept into her expression. "You are an evil woman."

Lacus performed a curtsy in gratitude.

Cagalli shook her head in mock resignation. "I guess I'll just have to replace all of your clothes in PLANT with t-shirts and grubby pants right before one of your Supreme Council meetings."

"You wouldn't dare," Lacus warned.

Cagalli looked at other woman strangely. "I threaten to break up you and Kira, and you calmly say you'll run to Athrun. I threaten to steal your clothes, and you get angry? Do you not find that somewhat disturbing, Lacus?"

Lacus tilted her head in amusement, a smile returning to her face. "I presented to you a nice gift, and yet you threaten to ruin my happiness. Do you not find that somewhat disturbing, Cagalli?"

Touché, Cagalli admitted internally. On an invisible cue, the two ended the game and continued down the hallway. They had a silent understanding that the contents of this strange conversation would never be revealed to another soul. Especially to two young men in particular. After all, there were just some things men didn't need to know.

Entering the hangar, the two princesses saw that the guests separated themselves into two age groups: their generation and the "older folks." Their friends' attention seemed to focus around Yzak's subordinate, Shiho Hahnenfuss, and thus no one noticed their approach.

"How? Did he mistake Impulse for Strike?" Hahnenfuss asked sarcastically.

"That's enough, Shiho," Athrun declared.

Eyes widening, Hahnenfuss sat up straight. "My apologies, Commander Zala," she spoke stiffly.

"Pulling rank already, Athrun?" Cagalli interjected. Lacus had informed her earlier about his status in ZAFT. Her heart rate increased at the possibility of his return to PLANT.

"Haro! Haro!"

"Cagalli! Lacus!" Murrue turned in surprise.

"Sorry for arriving late," Cagalli said.

"Congratulations, Murrue-san," Lacus greeted.

"Thank you, Lacus, Cagalli," Murrue returned. "Now what's this about Athrun-kun's rank?" She had of course noticed Hahnenfuss's formal address to Athrun all evening, but until this moment Murrue had yet to ask anyone regarding this.

"ZAFT dropped the charges against Athrun and Meyrin; they have been reinstated in their former positions, sans Athrun's FAITH status," Lacus answered. Murrue, Miriallia, and Sai turned to the pair in question, who suddenly found themselves the objects of scrutiny.

"Aren't you an Orb Colonel, Athrun?" Sai asked. He had no need to voice the implied question.

"We are still... uh... working on those... small details," Athrun weakly supplied.

"Small details, Athrun?" Cagalli questioned. Looking at the Infinite Justice, she continued, "You are now the first person in history to have two nuclear powered mobile suits at a given time." She gave Meyrin a brief glance and then returned her gaze to Athrun. "I wouldn't call having two a small detail."

Facing each other, Cagalli and Athrun shared a silent look which conveyed a multitude of messages, emotions, and concerns. Meyrin grew increasingly mortified since she was quite certain everyone understood Cagalli's underlying reference. On top of that, she did not appreciate the symbolism her mind was drawing regarding her own position relative to Athrun's and Cagalli's meaningful exchange.

"Hey, I'll take Justice off your hands, man," Dearka suggested amusedly, patting Athrun on the back.

"You can't. ZAFT is at its limit," Yzak stated. Shiho glanced up at him in surprise.

"Limit?" Lunamaria asked. Shinn's expression mirrored hers.

"Instead of banning nuclear suits – because we all know if we have another war, each side is going to break that rule anyways – the Peace Treaty limits the number of such suits for each force," Yzak answered.

"And ZAFT has reached its limit already? That was fast," Cagalli remarked.

Shiho shook her head as Yzak realized he just carelessly revealed a military secret. "That is... uh... plans are in place," Yzak clarified as he tried to recover from his error. "Acquiring Justice would most likely be more trouble than its worth, as current designs and plans would have to be altered."

Smooth, Yzak, Shiho thought sarcastically.

"Assuming Orb would just give Justice to ZAFT," Sai added.

Dearka rubbed his chin in thought. "Hmm... maybe I can defect to Orb to pilot it."

"Hey, that's not funny," Yzak warned.

"You're right. Last time I did that, you pointed a gun at me."

"Shut the hell up. I'm not the idiot who defected all because of a girl."

"It wasn't all because of a girl!" Immediately, Dearka cringed in realization of what he just said.

"But part of it was, then?" Yzak pressed, barely suppressing a smug expression.

"You two. Need. Girlfriends. Seriously," Shiho interrupted. Everybody laughed at that statement. Well, everyone except for Yzak and Dearka.

"Like you're one to talk, Shiho," Yzak retorted, crossing his arms.

"What are you implying, Commander?" Shiho ventured.

"That you'd have more success with men if you acted and dressed more femininely." Yzak was, after all, never one to hold back his opinion.

Shiho stood up in response, giving Yzak a withering glare. Walking toward Athrun, she saluted stiffly. "Commander Zala. If you need any pilots on your team, I'd like to apply for a position."

"Hey!" Yzak shouted. Really, losing his star pilot to his arch-rival would completely ruin his evening, pride, military career, and the cosmic balance of fairness.

Athrun, not quite certain of the seriousness in this unexpected turn of events, decided to gain his bearings. "On what grounds are you requesting to leave your former Commander?"

"Sexual harassment." Turning to Yzak, Shiho gave him a sadistic smile. "He wants to get me into a skirt."

Dearka coughed to cover his guffaw, desperate not to interrupt the flow of conversation. Athrun, on the other hand, gasped in surprise at the possibility. He glanced at Yzak, and then Shiho. Yzak. And Shiho. Yzak and Shiho?

"That's enough!" Yzak erupted. "Defamation of character is a crime, Hahnenfuss. The punishment would be severe if you were charged with it," he threatened. Anything to end this embarrassing charade.

"Crime?" Shiho repeated. "Punishment?" Narrowing her eyes, she turned to Lacus and saluted. "Councilwoman Clyne. I would like to report a leak in military intelligence," she stated coldly.

Yzak sputtered in shock.

Delighted at the invitation into this game, Lacus fell into the part. "And which individual or individuals would comprise this leak?"

"I would first like some measure of immunity, due to the nature of the individuals."

"Granted. You have my personal protection." Oh, this is so much fun! Lacus thought to herself.

"The leak is my commander, Yzak Jule. I can gather witnesses to testify that he released intel regarding our nuclear program to high civilian and military officials of the Orb Union."

"This is a serious matter, Hahnenfuss. Your impeccable record and large number of accomplishments give your testimonials much credence; we will investigate this matter with utmost priority. And Yzak Jule does have a history of communicating warnings to ZAFT's declared enemy."

Yzak's jaw dropped. After all, it was Lacus to whom he gave the warning. Traitorous bit-

"Thank you, Councilwoman Clyne." Shiho saluted again, before turning to given Yzak another cold gaze.

"My, my, I did not expect this when we planned the party," Murrue commented amusedly.

"I wish I recorded this," Miriallia chimed in, grinning.

"Hey now, leave the poor Coordinators alone," Cagalli chided.

"Umm..." Sai interrupted. "Aren't you three part of this drama as well?" he asked, purely in the interest of consistency. "I mean, how many women can claim to have... ah... acquired... a soldier from the other side?"

Sai gulped in fear at the venomous glares he received from the three women.

x-x-x

"I've been looking forward to this for some time." The speaker secured the last button on the shirt of the pilot uniform he wore.

His companion, also changing into a pilot suit, grunted in reply.

"How do you think they will react?" the speaker continued, closing his locker.

The companion paused for a moment before answering. "It depends on how much information we reveal."

"Any bets on who gets hit first?"

Tucking their helmets under their arms, they walked out of the changing room toward the hangar. The background drone of machinery permeated the air.

"If you get cocky, then you. But lately you've been careful about that."

"Heh. Just for that, I'll make sure to be extra careful."

"Good, we'll have to be. They have a good combination of genetics and experience, plus self-righteousness."

The two young men broke apart when they entered the hangar, heading toward their respective mobile suits. The first speaker approached a technician for last minute questions

The other companion gazed at his mobile suit from the floor of the hangar. He muttered softly to himself.

"It is time for us to meet, Kira Yamato."